Grandma Cruising Posted July 18 #101 Share Posted July 18 1 hour ago, cavaaller said: @mj_holiday exactly! you take the cruise price, divide by the number of nights and then multiply by the remaining nights. (in our case * 3/7) what makes this really attractive is that it is not restricted to balcony cabins but can also be used if you book a suite (plus we had the onboard discount of 6%) And you also get whatever the current promotion is - in the UK it’s currently 20% off plus the Essentials Experience more package - and you get extra OBC for booking onboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare uktog Posted July 18 #102 Share Posted July 18 2 hours ago, cavaaller said: I know… just don’t like to be reminded that I will have to leave this ship. Have you any other suggestions how they could tackle this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 18 Author #103 Share Posted July 18 2 hours ago, uktog said: Have you any other suggestions how they could tackle this? I think you misunderstood... I never questioned that this has to be done, but I do not want to think about having to leave the ship. I was not criticising the procedure just anticipating the end of cruise blues. 2 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenP Posted July 19 #104 Share Posted July 19 Cavaller I am enjoying this so much! It's bringing back great memories and all those Insiders are whetting my appetite for my upcoming cruise (not until Oct 25, so please can more people do Live Froms!!) Thank you! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #105 Share Posted July 19 23 minutes ago, QueenP said: Cavaller I am enjoying this so much! It's bringing back great memories and all those Insiders are whetting my appetite for my upcoming cruise (not until Oct 25, so please can more people do Live Froms!!) Thank you! what a sweet post, thank you so much @QueenP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excitedofharpenden Posted July 19 #106 Share Posted July 19 21 hours ago, cavaaller said: I know… just don’t like to be reminded that I will have to leave this ship. OK. Apologies. I missed the irony. Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
excitedofharpenden Posted July 19 #107 Share Posted July 19 18 hours ago, uktog said: Have you any other suggestions how they could tackle this? I've got one. If there's room on the ship and you have the time to do it, see the sales advisor onboard and ask if you can buy a cabin to follow on your cruise 😀. I did this and my 37 night cruise finishing in Athens became 62 ending in Hamburg! Such fun. In those days the follow on price was great. Now with "revenue enhancement" not so much. Phil 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #108 Share Posted July 19 Sorrent This is the first Tender Port I experienced with Azamara so I was a bit anxious not knowing what to expect. We anchored at 7:45 and the first tenders (excursions only) left at that time. The first non excursions tenders were supposed to leave at around 8. We took our time and went to the Den (deck 5) at around 8:45. There were some people waiting already but no crazy queues like we experienced on other cruise lines. When the tender boat came, the organizer counted, how many passengers she could accommodate and put stickers on them. We then went downstairs to Deck 3 and straight on the tender boat. The whole process took about 15 Minutes. It was extremely civilized and well organized. Well done Azamara! Once ashore we found our way to the stairs up to the old town. There was the option of taking the escalator (1,10 E/pp) but the morning was still young and we still had energy. This is where you leave the tenders (top right hand side) and then go to the escalators: (you see people taking the stairs on the right) this is where you follow the stairs (you take the stairs up to the arch, turn right and are right in the middle of the old town) The stairs lead you directly to Piazza Tasso with the main shopping street, restaurants and cafes. This would be, where the escalators drop you off: (Communal gardens) this is the "beach" if you turn right from the tenders As usual, when there is the option to climb up to some mirador I cannot help myself. So inspite of the excruciating heat we went to the Hilton Hotel and climbed up the pass behind it to reach the top. We did not make it all to the top because the sun was boiling hot and it was just too steep and painful to climb. But we still managed to take in some pretty views: After two hours of hiking we were about as medium rare as our Chateaubriand from the other night so we returned to the ship. Tenders are going back and fourth constantly, even if they are not full. So we did not have to wait long. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #109 Share Posted July 19 (edited) Back on the ship we went to lunch with breathtaking views from the windows café. There seems to be a certain pattern: I think to myself "we will go to dinner tonight, let's just take some salad". Then I come back with my plate and am surprised to find things like stew (sooo delicious), Couscous (lovely) and other not really light choices on my plate. But what is even worse (and this might have to do with the language barrier and my poor English-skills): when the waiters come to ask for my drink choices I seem to always mispronounce "just water for me please" and am then left with the most delicious wines. I come from a family where leaving anything on the plate or in the glass is an affront to the cook, a waste and/or impolite. So - of course - I always finish plate and glasses. 😄 btw: I find the wines on the ultimate package to be delightful: So far I tried the Pieper Heidsiek Champagne, the Whispering Angel Rosé, The Cygalus Languedoc white (WOW!) and my beloved Cune Rioja. For me personally, the upgrade to the ultimate package was sooo worth it! (I had the "experience more" package included in my booking because we booked really really early, the upgrade cost me 8 USD per day minus 15% explorer discount. FunFact: Since the cruise only starts at a Spanish port and is not a closed loop AND there is a non European Port included, I did not have to pay extra VAT) Edited July 19 by cavaaller 2 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #110 Share Posted July 19 (edited) This is the view from windows café: And this is what we see from our balcony: Edited July 19 by cavaaller 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #111 Share Posted July 19 (edited) As an explorer we have the benefit of a bag of laundry. So yesterday I sent out a whole bag (rolled and stuffed to the max as Padam advised us to do - we just had to write "explorer" on the list) and it all came back washed and ironed today already - amazing! Even if you had to pay for the laundry - the prices are rather reasonable I think: Edited July 19 by cavaaller 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandma Cruising Posted July 19 #112 Share Posted July 19 Great photos & lovely to hear how much you are enjoying your cruise. Thanks for the wine tips - I’ll look out for that white wine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 19 Author #113 Share Posted July 19 2 hours ago, excitedofharpenden said: I've got one. If there's room on the ship and you have the time to do it, see the sales advisor onboard and ask if you can buy a cabin to follow on your cruise 😀. I did this and my 37 night cruise finishing in Athens became 62 ending in Hamburg! Such fun. In those days the follow on price was great. Now with "revenue enhancement" not so much. Phil oh if I only could ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucory Posted July 20 #114 Share Posted July 20 Absolutely loving this review and all the pics. I don't want your cruise to end! This "live from" is definitely getting me very excited about our September cruise on the Journey! 🙂 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 20 Author #115 Share Posted July 20 Thank you @brucory, that is such a nice thing to say. We spent yesterday evening at Prime C. A glass of Champagne, magnificent views on Sorrento and good food. That is my ideal vacation. Amuse Bouche was a honey glazed brie with raspberry aioli (I think). My starter was superb: Tuna tartare and shrimp I also tasted DH's korean fried chicken: I liked it very much - DH prefers to have a real crust on the chicken but we both thought the rub and the bbq sauce were excellent. Question for the photographers: The windows are coated with heat protection film that filters out certain wavelengths of light. That's why the pictures always seem a bit strange / blue tinted. Is there a filter that can be placed over the images to add the missing wavelengths back? anyway.... we had lovely conversations with the sommelier Raoul from India, one of the waiters from Maurice (I could not read his name tag) - he is really funny, maybe I can add the name later and our Head waiter Aurelio (from Guam) he is excellent aswell. Not just the waiters but the whole PC-team is wonderful including the Maitre d' and the Hostess. We continued with the lamb: I regrettably chose the wrong doneness (medium when I should have gone with rare/medium-rare... will do better next time). The sauce and the seasoning were wonderful. I chose Brussel sprouts as a side - perfect accompaniment. DH had the New York Strip Steak which was cooked perfectly but he liked the filet mignon better because of less meat grain. Contrary to my DH - no matter how much I ate I can almost always eat dessert which in my case was a lovely chocolate fondant (think lava cake) with vanilla ice cream. I loved it. I would have loved to try a dessert wine with this but I had already had a glass of champagne AND a red wine so I had to pass - next time maybe. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 20 Author #116 Share Posted July 20 Today we have a SEADAY. The Captain kindly arranged 😉 to have us sail by the Stromboli during breakfast hours. The only thing I regret regarding the RS-breakfast is the lack of eggs Benedict which I love. I tried to scribble it in in the "comments" section but they do not seem to deliver these. The poached eggs are not a very good alternative as I do not care for the vinegary-taste. Otherwise, there is really nothing I could think of that is missing on the menu... we later passed the street of messina The views from our balcony are just terrific. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 20 Author #117 Share Posted July 20 (edited) then we walked the decks a little - took a look at the shops remarcable: On a previous cruise I had been given the task to hunt down a Tom Ford perfume (this was on the Celebrity Apex). I spent a lot of precious vacation time researching and scouring shops in different ports - here - they just have it on sale... (it is quite pricey though) The LV Bags are extremely expensive but there are some nice Coach bags that caught my eye and my OBC... Also they have Azamara-Sweater on sale (for around 20 E) Edited July 20 by cavaaller 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 20 Author #118 Share Posted July 20 Whenever we pass by the Mosaic Café I am tempted by the little Snacks 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 20 Author #119 Share Posted July 20 French75 (excellent, a little bitter but I like that) and the sundown 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandma Cruising Posted July 20 #120 Share Posted July 20 French75 is one of my favourites too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Sleep7 Posted July 21 #121 Share Posted July 21 😊Thank you @cavaaller for such a fantastic cruise blog. Reading your comments and seeing your pictures has brought back so many Azamemories!!! Keep up the great work!👏 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 22 Author #122 Share Posted July 22 Thank you @Sleep7 for your sweet words. A couple of days ago we have been invited on a bridge tour. We gathered in the living room (it was tea time so I had to take a picture of the snacks): A security officer was present and did a "pad down" as our concierge called it and then we went on to a quick fist bump with the marvelous Captain Antonio and into the bridge room (?) where the second in command told us about his work and how the ship is steered, I learned that the ship is not held by the anchor but by the weight of the chain and other interesting things. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 22 Author #123 Share Posted July 22 the officer was a good teacher - it was a very interesting tour. While waiting in the living room (fabulous space btw) I saw that there are plenty of board games that you can borrow: and you can even sign up to play with others: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 22 Author #124 Share Posted July 22 KOTOR We had an astonishingly beautiful sail-in to Kotor. Normally, Azamara docks right by the entrance to the old city. Unfortunately this time, the MSC Lirica had gotten the only spot so we had to tender. The port authorities took their time to clear the boat and did not let the captain come very close to the port at first. So it was a drearily long process to get on board. Passengers gathered in the den and waited patiently for the tenders to return. One return trip took 1 hour at that time, so we were only ahshore at after 12 o clock. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cavaaller Posted July 22 Author #125 Share Posted July 22 Once ashore we wanted to take some steps on the donkey path that leads up to a mirador. we did not make it very far because it was extremely hot again. But the views were nice none the less. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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